Skift Take
Virtual event technology company Hopin just announced it has closed one of the largest funding rounds in the history of the event industry.
The Series B is led by existing investor IVP plus new investor Tiger Global, and joined by Coatue and DFJ Growth, along with Hopin’s returning investors Accel, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures, and Seedcamp. The news comes only a few months after the company raised a Series A round of $40 million.
The round comes at a whopping $2B valuation.
“Hopin is the fastest-growing company we have seen at this stage and has meaningfully exceeded its plan since our last investment in June,” said Jules Maltz, general partner at IVP. “We have been fortunate to invest in early hypergrowth companies like Slack, Snap, and Twitter. Hopin is one of those rare companies with a similar growth trajectory — they have built an extremely customer-centric organization, with an ambitious innovative roadmap that they have the ability to scale quickly — a sure recipe for success.”
The statement confirms the widespread interest from investors in virtual events.
While the news of a vaccine may have slowed down Zoom’s stock performance, it is apparent that virtual event technology is not going anywhere.
Founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat shared:
“During the first few months of the pandemic, there were some who questioned the long-term relevancy of virtual platforms. We don’t hear those arguments anymore. There is a broad recognition that large parts of the new virtual infrastructure are here to stay, and it’s because they offer something that can’t be replicated anywhere else. Give the world a virtual venue, and they’ll plan weddings and parties and conferences and recruiting fairs. Lower the barriers to putting on an event, and suddenly thousands of companies will convene one for the very first time. This isn’t a fad; it’s the future.”
